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Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo
|image1=Narcos= |-|Real life= |caption1= |full_name = |nickname(s)=''El Padrino'' El Jefe de Jefes Thin Man Skinny |status=Incarcerated |birth=January 8, 1946 Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico |nationality=Mexican |fictional=No |gender = Male |spouse(s) = Maria Elvira de Felix Unknown woman (????-1968) |children = 2 |occupation=Drug lord (formerly) DFS Agent (formerly) Police officer (formerly) |affiliation=Guadalajara cartel DFS (formerly) Pedro Avilés (formerly) |rank=Leader |years_active=1980 – 1989 |first=Camelot |last=Leyenda |episode_count=10 |season_count=1 |portrayed_by=Diego Luna }} , commonly referred to as El Padrino (The Godfather) is a former Mexican drug lord who founded and led the Guadalajara cartel in the 1980s. In his prime, Félix Gallardo controlled almost all of the smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border. Félix Gallardo was arrested in 1989 for the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, and is currently serving 37-year sentence in a maximum security prison in Mexico. Biography Early life Born in 1946 in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, Felix began working as a Sinaloa State Police Trooper after completing his education. As a police officer, he soon became the bodyguard of Leopoldo Sánchez Celis, the then Governor of Sinaloa. Working under Sánchez enabled him to make connections to the underworld, and soon began working for marijuana smuggler Pedro Avilés. Concurrently, he married Maria Elvira and fathered two children. Smuggling career Relocating to Guadalajara In the early 80s, Félix's friend Rafael Caro Quintero creates a new type of marijuana crop, one which can be grown without seeds. With the military aggressively cracking down on marijuana farmers, Félix sees an opportunity in growing Caro Quintero's plant in a secluded spot in Guadalajara. After preventing Rafael's capture by the military, Félix Gallardo convinces Avilés to relocate to the more busy area of Guadalajara. His boss sends him to Guadalara to negotiate with the Naranjo brothers, the bosses of the city. Accompanied by Rafael and a reluctant Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, Félix Gallardo arrives in Guadalajara, and proceeds to kill one of the brothers when his proposal is rejected and he is mocked. The trio are then arrested by the DFS, and Félix Gallardo convinces the DFS agents into taking him to Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, a DFS commander who also smuggled drugs. Esparragoza is intrigued by Caro's seedless sinsemilla weed, and he kills the other Naranjo brother and allows Félix Gallardo to grow his plants in Guadalajara. Later on, Miguel, Rafael and Ernesto drive over to the large patch of land in the middle of the desert, where Miguel announces his intentions of building a drug empire. The land eventually evolves into the Rancho Búfalo, the prime farm of the cartel. Founding the Guadalajara cartel With support from the DFS, Félix Gallardo came up with a plan to change the 'plaza system' by unifying the drug lords of various regions into a common marijuana smuggling network under Avilés to maximize profits. He travels to Ciudad Juárez, and gets Ernesto's drug smuggler nephew Amado Carrillo Fuentes on board. Miguel, Ernesto and Amado meet the latter's mentor, Pablo Acosta. Acosta, who was involved in a bitter feud with Avilés agrees to the plan after Miguel convinces the him that his boss is looking for peace. The trio then travel to Tijuana and meet up with the Arellano Felix brothers, led by Benjamin and Ramon Arellano Felix, who said they'll only join after the receive consent from Cuban smuggler Alberto Sicilia Falcon. In order to meet Sicilia, Miguel took the help of Sinaloan socialite Isabella Bautista; who allows the trio to meet Sicilia in a house party. Sicilia, despite being skeptical, gives his approval. Ahead of the big meeting between the smugglers, Miguel meets his boss Avilés and pleads him to co-operate with his rival Pablo Acosta. Despite agreeing to do so, Avilés locks horns with his rival during the meeting and walks away, causing the other smugglers to do so. Avilés forces Miguel back to Sinaloa in order to kill him, however on the way, they're pulled over by the police. DFS officers arrive at the scene along with Don Neto, and begin firing on Avilés' men after freeing Félix Gallardo. Félix Gallardo then uses the opportunity to shoot dead his mortally wounded boss. Pedro's driver is personally spared by Miguel after he promises his loyalty. With the control of Pedro's organisation under Félix, the plan is set into motion. With the cartel established, Félix Gallardo grew incredibly rich and began to adopt to the wealthy lifestyle. However, the moments of triumph are cut short when internal feuds arose between the DFS and various smugglers. Salvador Osuna Nava, the Director-General of the DFS, accused Mexican smuggler Victor Molina of stealing funds from the DFS, and sends a hit squad at a party organized by him. Molina, along with several other smugglers are mercilessly murdered by the DFS agents in the morning. Among the dead include a cousin of the Arellano Felix brothers. Félix Gallardo mediates, and assists the brothers by allowing the brothers to bury alive the DFS agent who shot their cousin. Shift to cocaine Rafael and his girlfriend stage a false kidnapping to elope together. The girls father, the Secretary of Education and a member of the powerful PRI party sets up a manhunt for Rafael. Miguel instructs Rafael to surrender to the police, but then changes his mind, and has him lay low in the countryside with Don Neto. Osuna Nava contacts Miguel, and forces him to delivery a cache of American weapons to an armed insurgency group in Nicaragua. With no other options available, Miguel and Amado Carrillo Fuentes travel to Nicaragua, where they are tortured by the rebels, till they are rescued by a CIA officer accompanying them. Before departing to Mexico, Miguel notices stacks of cocaine stocked in a warehouse, waiting to be sold. The CIA officer informs him that the Caribbean corridor used by Colombian cartels to traffic cocaine into the United States of America is closed, leaving the cartels with no options to send cocaine. Seeing a massive potential in using his drug routes to smuggle Colombian cocaine into the United States, Miguel uses Isabella Bautista to meet Juan Matta-Ballesteros, a Honduran cocaine trafficker who worked with Sicilia Falcon. Matta meets with Bautista and Miguel, and connects him to the Colombians; giving him two cartels to work with: one run by a group of shrewd businessmen and the other run by a temperamental and highly emotional individual. Deciding to work with the former, he and Bautista travel to Colombia and strike a deal with the Cali cartel. On the way back to their plane, they're kidnapped by the Medellín cartel. Miguel is taken to meet Pablo Escobar, the individual running the cartel. Escobar warns Félix of the dangers of the cocaine business, and orders the Mexican to traffic his cocaine along with Cali's. With alliances secured with the Colombians, Félix comes home and finds out that the shift to cocaine isn't well received by his compatriots. Rafael blasts the shift to cocaine by stressing that weed has stabilized them, and will always do so. Don Neto, who approved of the cocaine business, is employed by Félix to convince Rafael. Osuna Nava also disagreed with the shift to cocaine. Sicilia Falcon, feeling that Félix has betrayed him by entering the cocaine business, raids a warehouse of the Arellano Félix brothers and confiscates most of Rafael's marijuana before destroying the rest, triggering a war between Félix and Sicilia. Meanwhile, fed up with Osuna Nava's unreliability and arrogance; Félix pays Ruben Zuno Acre a million dollars to introduce him to his uncle: a high ranking government officer. Though he manages to meet him in a country club, the government official does not say anything of relevance and leaves with his mistress. A few days later, Miguel receives a phone call from his American accountant Thomas Buehl, requesting his signature on certain financial documents. Confused, Félix tries to covertly drive into the United States of America, but just as he was about to clear security at the Mexican side, the security officer hands him the telephone. Mr.X, the government official informs him that he is walking into a trap set by the DEA, prompting to Félix to run away. With political protection making him as powerful as ever, Félix decides to end the war with Sicilia. He meets Isabella and promises her 20% of all profits made in Tijuana in exchange for calming Sicilia. However just as she succeeds in her mission, Felix undercuts her and sends the DFS to arrest and kill Sicilia. Félix laters calls a meeting in the board room of his hotel. There, he announces a few changes in management. Héctor Palma Salazar is appointed to oversee operations in Mazatlan, and Carrillo Fuentes gets control of Juarez. Tijuana remained in the hands of Arellano Félix brothers, leaving Isabella and Pablo Acosta empty handed. Félix's declaration that cocaine will be the future of the cartel causes Rafael to storm out angrily, and Félix does not increase the DFS's share of the profits, angering Osuna Nava. Acosta calls out on Félix, saying that the organization falls apart if one of them doesn't agree, to which Félix replies that he is the only leader, and anyone disagreeing with him can freely walk away. Félix meets with Isabella later at that night, and she expresses her indignation, and threatens to reveal the nature of Sicilia Falcon's death. Félix manhandles her, and angrily says her to only take whatever he gives him. Later, he meets Osuna Nava at the hotel lobby. Nava taunts and berates Félix, and tells him that he can never be one of them, prompting an annoyed Félix to bludgeon him to death using an ashtray, as Esparagozza Moreno watched on. Rancho Búfalo raid In November 1984, the cartel's prized Rancho Búfalo is raided by the Mexican military, causing damages of upwards to $8 billion (2018 value) to the cartel. Death of Kiki Camerana and downfall The DFS eventually identify the source of the leak: DEA Special Agent Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena Salazar. Félix felt that going after just one man would jeopardize the entire organization, and personally meets his government contact and convinces him to not go after Kiki, but this turns out to be a temporary victory. El Azul and Tomas Morlet meet Rafael and manipulate him into greenlighting the operation. Félix contemplates the necessity of Pablo Acosta, and sends Amado to spend time with him. Amado later calls his boss and tells him that Acosta is fine, but this phonecall is interrupted by Don Neto. Neto calls Félix from Rafael's mansion, and informs him that Rafael has ordered the abduction of Kiki Camerena. The abduction is carried out by a team of DFS agents led by Morlet, with assistance from the Guadalajara police. Félix hurries to Rafael's hideout, and belittles his partner for being naive and tells him that he is being used the 'fall guy', and the blame will be passed onto Rafael by the DFS in case the situation goes out of hand. However, after catching a glimpse of Kiki, Félix changes his mind and approves of the torture of Kiki and his Mexican pilot. Félix later visits Kiki as his torturers took a break. Félix tells the American agent that he is finished, to which the American replies that Félix's empire is finished. Félix tells him to say whatever the interrogators want to hear, and leaves. The DEA, now aware of Kiki's kidnapping, begin to persistently search for their missing agent, amassing a large squadron of agents. James Kuykendall, the Guadalajara DEA station chief, pressures the Mexican police force and his superiors into taking the issue seriously. However, certain corrupt Mexican politicians use the situation to send DEA agents and Mexican law enforcement officials to kill political dissidents. The bodies of Kiki and his Mexican pilot are eventually discovered by the DEA outside a farmhouse in the countryside. The extent of his torture is revealed to the American government officials, and the Americans respond by closing the Mexican border and forced the Mexican government to take action. Several Mexican politicians and police officers are terminated, alarming the cartel. Rafael flees to Costa Rica with his girlfriend. He soon is arrested by the police, who were tipped off by Félix Gallardo himself, who felt that Rafael was no longer important to the cartel and was a massive loose end. Miguel shares one last meeting with Don Neto, and they both plan to escape from Guadalajara. Félix takes the help of his godson Rodolfo Sanchez, who convinces his father to help his godfather, but for the price of 1 million dollars. Félix then goes to El Azul for help, and moves to a safehouse in the countryside, and receives a fake passport. El Azul informs Félix that the DFS will be disbanded soon, and Félix in return invites him to join the cartel. He also learns that Félix's partners are planning to regroup and reorganize under Benjamin and to distance themselves from Kiki's murder. Return to power Enraged, Félix decides to stay in Mexico. However, his safehouse is attacked by the Mexican police, led by Guillermo Calderoni. Félix, who just coughed up blood minutes earlier, puts up a fight, but is eventually overpowered and ends up staring down the barrel of Calderoni's shotgun. In desperation, Félix attempts to bribe the police officer, but Calderoni shuts down all attempts. Then Félix reveals that he had ordered the interrogation of Camarena to be taped, and in case he is arrested or killed, the tapes would be released. The tapes included the names of several powerful Mexican politicial figures, including Calderoni's superiors. Félix agrees to pay Calderoni $1 million and surrender few of the tapes in return for letting him walk free. Calderoni is forced to let the Boss of Bosses walk free. He then sells out Don Neto the police. As the former drug lord held a party, the police barge into his house and arrest him. A police officer also leaves tapes of Kiki's execution on the crime scene, just as Félix promised to Calderoni. Félix Gallardo then proceeds to blackmail those political figures involved into protecting him. He soon receives protection from the Mexican military, and immediately travels to Acapulco to crash into the meeting of the drug smugglers. He makes a grand entrance as the military surrounds the resort and rounds up all the sicarios. He then forces Isabella to leave the meeting, and proclaims himself as the leader and announces the beginning of a new era. Later, Miguel orders the beheading of his godson to avenge his betrayal by Governor Celis. Overthrowing the Colombians Increased American border checks after Camarena's murder made the return of cash into Mexico difficult. This caused a variety of problems for the cartel, as neither the Mexican plazas nor the Colombians received money. Miguel used his money to compensate the plazas, especially the Arellno-Félix brothers; but the Cali cartel's debt to the Guadalajara cartel grew to $200 million. Félix orders Matta to persuade Cali cartel leader Hélmer Herrera to visit Félix Gallardo during his fortieth birthday celebrations on January 8, 1986 and renogotiate. The drug lords met at a chapel in Félix Gallardo's property, however the Colombian refused to change the price from $3000 per kilo of cocaine moved, stressing that the icnreased border checks were caused by Félix Gallardo's decisions, therefore absolving the Cali cartel of any responsibility. in 1986.]] Seeking to dethrone the Colombians, Félix travelled to Matamoros to meet with Juan Nepomuceno Guerra, the leader of the Gulf cartel, and in attempt to convince the Gulf cartel to enter the cocaine business as an ally of the Guadalajara cartel to gain leverage against the Cali cartel, whom Félix believed would be increasily reliant on the Mexicans on the Caribbean corridor closed. Don Juan was initially hesistant due to Félix's infamous relations with his former partners, and a fear of losing his American friends who would refused to co-operate with him if he smuggled cocaine, but Félix Gallardo eventually succeeded in convincing the elderly drug lord. Upon returning to Guadalajara, El Azul informed Félix about Dr. Delgado's disappearance and Commandante Verdin's death. Félix summonded Calderoni, and angrily berated the police commander for his inactivity, reminding him that that the commandante worked for him. Félix is also forced to resolve disputes between the Tijuana and Sinaloa factions when a brawl broke out between members of both cartels during a party organized for Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix. He established a 10% tax on any product which the Sinaloans moved through Arellano-Félix territory. Félix also sent Amado to locate Acosta, who had been missing for quite some time, slowing down operations in Juarez. Félix visited his political contact at his office in a national building, and threatened to pull out all his money from the country's banks, crashing the economy if he didn't fix the American problem. Meanwhile, Zuno was arrested by the American police in Texas. Félix visited Don Neto in prison, informed him of his deal with the Gulf cartel, and then asked him for advice in dealing with the Americans. Neto sarcastically tells him to surrender to the Americans, so that he could watch Rafa devour Félix in prison. At that point, Félix sees Rafa in another yard with a barricade in between. They both share eye contact, but Félix walked away. One of Matta's planes carrying American weapons destined to Nicaragua crashed en route, triggering a scandal in the United States. Using this opportunity, Félix used Matta's influence to set up a meeting with the CIA. He and El Azul travelled to a CIA base in Nicaragua, and Félix was led inside a plane despite his objections, where he met agent Whitcroft, the man who suggested him to switch to cocaine years ago. Whitcroft instructed the pilot to fly the plane to the United States, where he would hand Félix Gallardo to the DEA, saying that he'd prefer good reputation for the CIA rather than drug money. However, Félix pleads the agent to open the briefcase he was carrying. Whitcroft was stunned when he found maps in the briefcase, instead of money. Félix proposed that his cartel would smuggle money and cash for the CIA to fund the Contras, in exchange for protection against the DEA and preventing Zuno from providing a testimony against him in front of the grand jury. The CIA accepted the offer, and they get Zuno to lie that he'd never met Félix Gallardo, and get the DEA to end Operation Leyenda after the arrest of Zuno. Félix's political contact decided to run for President, and since he was Zuno's uncle; feared that he wouldn't get the PRI's nomination. In order to clear his name, Félix betrays Matta to the Mexican government. His political government orders the arrest of Matta, clearning his name away from his nephew's arrest. Félix then went to Panama to negotiate with the Cali cartel. However, minutes before the meeting with Herrera, he is informed that Don Juan hasn't checked into the hotel. Herrera later informs Félix that he managed to strike a separate deal with Don Juan, moving one step ahead of Félix. Félix phoned Don Juan and angrily yelled at the elderly drug lord. Upon returning to Mexico, El Azul updated Félix that his contact didn't secure the PRI presidential nomination, but it was secured by Carlos Salinas de Gortari, a man close to Juan Guerra. He also informed of the incident where Ramón Arellano Félix massacred several men affiliated with the Sinaloa plaza for transporting drugs through tunnels running through the Tijuana plaza. Arrest Félix Gallardo's erratic desire for power causes the Guadalajara cartel to fall apart. Chapo and the Sinaloans broke away for Félix's role in the killing of Palma's family. The Tijuana, Juarez and Gulf factions formed their own partnerships with the Colombian drug cartels. Félix's alleged role in the Sylmar cocaine bust caused the Cali cartel to sever relations with Félix's organization. With the Americans increasing pressure on the Mexican government, high ranking Mexican politicians decide to withdraw their support of Félix Gallardo in order to get a favourable view from the United States to sign a trade deal. In light of recent events, particularly for ordering the execution of Guadelupe Palma and her children, Maria ordered Félix to leave her house, and in the ensuing confrontation, stabbed him in the abdomen with a knife. Bleeding, and with his ulcer getting worse, Félix retired to one of his properties. On April 8, 1989; Commandante Calderoni led a team of federal police agents and raided the property, and found Félix sitting at the living room, smoking. The drug lord was apprehended without a single shot being fired. Félix tried to bribe Calderoni like he did 4 years ago, but the commander informed him that he was of no use to Mexico City. While imprisoned, he is visited by Walt Breslin. Félix maintained his arrogance, and callously mocked agent Camarena, and refused to reveal the extent of his previous political influence. When the DEA agent asked him about the future of Mexico, Félix Gallardo was not hesitant to talk about the potential war between the various new drug cartels, particularly between the Sinaloa and the Tijuana cartels. He also spoke about how the massive potential growth faced by the Gulf and Juarez cartel, and told him that Carrillo Fuentes would be biggest drug trafficker Mexico would ever see. He warned the DEA agent about the ensuing drug violence, likening it to setting caged wild animals free. Personality Gallardo is a serious man who is more dedicated to his cartel then the party-loving Quintero. His focus on business puts him at odds with his family, especially his wife, who discovers his cheating. Despite his unfaithfulness, Gallardo seemed to feel remorseful and attempted to reunite with her. Gallardo commits several ruthless acts throughout the show, including the shooting of Hernin Naranjo, the torture and murder of Kiki and the beheading of his godson. His ruthlessness and cold nature continue to the point where he goes from being a corrupt cop to a domineering, tyrannical drug lord. Despite his dark side, Gallardo did love his family and, for a moment, desired to leave behind his cartel to be with them. He cared for his business partners, Rafa and Neto, and insisted they go into hiding for their own well-being. Personal life See also *Guadalajara cartel *Rafael Caro Quintero *Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo Category:Individuals Category:Drug lords Category:Mexicans Category:Guadalajara cartel members Category:Police officers Category:DFS agents